Tag Archives: Dylan Walker

Honestly, I really don’t know what more there is to say. In what has rapidly become a miserable season, perhaps one of the most miserable in the club’s history, the loyal fans who turned out to Mt Smart Stadium on another wet evening, were yet again denied the chance to celebrate. It was a game that hadn’t seemed promising, and then suddenly seemed winnable, almost certain, before events, fate, wizardry, curses, the weather, the players — whichever of those you believe to be true — conspired against us. Another night that ended in disappointment. Another night that seemed to unfairly punish Warrior Nation’s loyal subjects.

Let’s not dwell on the events of Sunday evening for too long — it was a tough one to take after getting so close — so I’ll leave you with a few thoughts from the NRL Warrior desk and let you carry on with your day. Continue reading Tough to Take→

It’s a long way from Auckland to Perth: 5343 kilometres if you believe everything Wikipedia tells you. A commercial flight takes more than seven hours in each direction So if you’re going to go all that way, you want to make sure it’s worthwhile, particularly if you’re travelling primarily for business not pleasure.

Always fly near the pointy end of the plane if possible — it projects a sense that you mean business, and shows everyone in your travelling party that they are a valued member of the team. It’s also recommended that you wear matching clothing, to signify unity, and that you make the journey a day in advance. This allows time to acclimatise to your surroundings, and also provides an opportunity to test your ideas in your new environment prior to kick off.

On Saturday night, at the home of rugby league in New Zealand, I spoke ill of people whom I have never even met before. I used curse words on multiple occasions and I may have even taken the Lord’s name in vain. I said some things I now regret, although it is not likely my words were heard by Gavin Reynolds, Chris Sutton or Luke Patten.

I lost my temper, Father, but at the time I felt wronged. It felt like these people were conspiring against me, against our boys, against our country. If it makes it any better, it wasn’t just me — there were another 16,000 people booing and shouting. It wasn’t fair, Father. Why were they allowed to hold down for so long in the tackle but not us? Why did the bunker have to stick its nose in where it didn’t belong? And what was that for, ref? C’mon, they’re offside! Continue reading Inside the confessional→

Back-to-back victories against 2016’s two weakest teams have propelled the Warriors from the foot of the ladder back into the playoff conversation, but it’s still not clear quite where they belong. While there were many who hypothesized during the offseason that the men from Mt Smart might be on the verge of greatness, evidence from the first five games has so far proved inconclusive. At times they’ve mixed together well, generating lots of energy and some spectacular tries.

But at other times they’ve either been too slow to react or displayed too many of the corrosive elements of their game. There’s simply been too much variance thus far to determine a pattern of predicted outcomes.